Choca Locahttp://choca-loca.com
The Art of ChocolateMon, 25 Jun 2018 19:55:24 +0000en-GBhourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7.11Cheese and chocolate pairing. Match made in heaven?http://choca-loca.com/en/2018/06/cheese-chocolate-pairing-match-made-in-heaven/
http://choca-loca.com/en/2018/06/cheese-chocolate-pairing-match-made-in-heaven/#respondSat, 02 Jun 2018 20:11:05 +0000http://choca-loca.com/?p=1198“But how’s that?! Cheese and chocolate?! ” I heard from a friend when I showed her occasional photo on my Instagram (follow) The surprise is probably due to the fact that Chocolate is associated with sweetness. We like to think about cheeses rather in terms of “salty”. In the end we all heard about wine […]

]]>“But how’s that?! Cheese and chocolate?! ” I heard from a friend when I showed her occasional photo on my Instagram (follow)

The surprise is probably due to the fact that

Chocolate is associated with sweetness. We like to think about cheeses rather in terms of “salty”.

In the end we all heard about wine + cheese combo. For more adventurous readers I also recommend my guide- soon to come – how to pair chocolate with wine (stay tuned folks!)

So what about cheese?

The first time I heard about cheese and chocolate pairing while I was on holiday in Colombia.

It turns out that cheese dipped in hot chocolate is a traditional delicacy served in many cafés in Bogota. Hearing about this delicacy (?) for the first time I winced in a slight expectation of the worst.

It turned out, however, that the cheese served in hot chocolate is a soft cheese, in the taste resembling a bit ricotta (maybe a little more blunt than ricotta and -yes! that’s possible). As a result, the shock for the taste buds was a bit smaller.

But really speaking of serving yourself a surprise, it turns out all the fun is to hack the sense of taste and strike with salty and sweet. Simultaneously.

Sounds silly? And Salted caramel, anyone? Camembert and cranberries? These are the classics of this type of matching

Okay. Enough of it. Let’s get down to business and pair something.

and by that, I mean – of course –

Cheese and chocolate pairing 101.

In this post I am not going to go into into the depths of the art of pairing.

This time just the basics – what to pair and how to eat it to come out as snobisitic and fancy ;-)

So here’s the cheat sheet in five bullet points :

White chocolate is great with Swiss cheeses, emmental and gouda (and it’s great for Riesling to drink along with these)

Milk chocolate is perfect for the cheddar as well as soft cheeses like ricotta or cream cheese (and to drink, to strengthen the sweet sensation on a tongue -Port wine)

Dark chocolate will perfectly break the taste of spicy mould cheeses-such as Brie orp parimiggiano regiano(this combination will go great with young, light wine such as primitivo)

The cheese and chocolate are served at room temperature to bring out their taste

We start tasting with a cheese that is chased with chocolate

And that’s it in the first part.

In case of doubt or a different opinion, I encourage you to leave a comment:-)

]]>http://choca-loca.com/en/2018/06/cheese-chocolate-pairing-match-made-in-heaven/feed/0Rosemary pralines.http://choca-loca.com/en/2017/12/rosemary-pralines/
http://choca-loca.com/en/2017/12/rosemary-pralines/#respondSat, 09 Dec 2017 18:31:52 +0000http://choca-loca.com/?p=1124Rosemary pralines. This experimento is so unusual, that I do not even know how to write proper intro to this kitchen adventure. A few days ago I asked my Instagram audience in a poll, if it was a good idea to go and try this in my own kitchen. 100% voted “let’s do this! You […]

]]>http://choca-loca.com/en/2017/12/rosemary-pralines/feed/0Chocolate liqueur. Easy recipe.http://choca-loca.com/en/2017/11/chocolate-liqueur-easy-recipe/
http://choca-loca.com/en/2017/11/chocolate-liqueur-easy-recipe/#respondSun, 19 Nov 2017 21:07:08 +0000http://choca-loca.com/?p=1100I am not a very big fan of complicated dishes. Nor vodka to be precise. And when it comes to preparing complicatged dishes with vodka…man I’m out! That’s why I started studying liqueurs. Well actually recipes for liqueurs. Homemade liqueurs are fun and easy and spirit based, rather than vodka! Classic win-win situation. So to start […]

]]>I am not a very big fan of complicated dishes. Nor vodka to be precise. And when it comes to preparing complicatged dishes with vodka…man I’m out! That’s why I started studying liqueurs. Well actually recipes for liqueurs.

Homemade liqueurs are fun and easy and spirit based, rather than vodka! Classic win-win situation.

So to start off smoothly I bring you chocolate liqueur – the easy recipe.

To be honest, it was quite a mental challenge for me to go to the liquor store and purchase 96% spirit (more on my mental issues regarding the subject can be found here). But once I bought that half a litre bottle, suddenly my head got full of culinary ideas.

I started releasing my creativity in a very old school manner – I went through all of my cookbooks to find the perfect recipe for chocolate liqueur. And guess what? I found nothing suitable.

I tried preparing this liqueur several times before calling it a success.

Why was that? Well, I followed the recipe which contained condensed milk and found the liqueur impossible to remove from the bottle! I had to break the thing with a hammer!

Totally worth it act of violence!

So, hbut aving learnt from that failure I enhanced the vintage recipe a bit. I confirm that after a week, it’s still in a drinkable state rather than edible.

Ingrdients :

100 g milk chocolate

200 ml spirit

Tin of condensed milk (aha!! still there!!)

300 ml or a cup of full milk

Pinch of cinnamon (optional but since it’s my singature spice I add it everywhere. If you feel adventurous try chilli instead)

Preparation:

Take a soucepan, pour both kinds of milk

Add chopped chocolate

Stir over a medium heat until chocolate is melted

Some whisking also might handy – just make sure mixture is supersmooth

Add spirit and stir for a moment (don’t allow it to boil!)

Pour your newly made liqueur into a bottle

Store away for a couple of days before serving

And this is liqueur ready for serving. I still have 2 bottles of spirit lying around. Any ideas how to use them (I’m no spirit drinker, fortunately)?

]]>http://choca-loca.com/en/2017/11/chocolate-liqueur-easy-recipe/feed/0Spread love- chocolate spread!http://choca-loca.com/en/2017/11/spread-love-chocolate-spread/
http://choca-loca.com/en/2017/11/spread-love-chocolate-spread/#respondWed, 08 Nov 2017 18:11:58 +0000http://choca-loca.com/?p=1075I am still sick! Yay hooray! And fever is giving me side effect of poetry (vide the title of this post). So instead of spreading viruses…I’m spreading chocolate! Or chocolate spread to be precise. Anywho, Netflix is still no fun and going outside is impossibile! So, the only way to cheer a gal like myself […]

]]>I am still sick! Yay hooray! And fever is giving me side effect of poetry (vide the title of this post).

So instead of spreading viruses…I’m spreading chocolate! Or chocolate spread to be precise.

Anywho, Netflix is still no fun and going outside is impossibile! So, the only way to cheer a gal like myself up is to do some fancy cooking (low cost though).

I’ve been into spreads for a while now, because they are easy and quick to make and when done with love (ha!) can be part of a fancy table decor. Or a great gift. Non- alcoholic this time.

The best part about it this babe is that it contains two main ingredients only. Hence it is very easy to prepare. Since we are slowly entering Christmas/ Holiday period I prefer to make a batch and then share the jars with friends.

]]>http://choca-loca.com/en/2017/11/spread-love-chocolate-spread/feed/0How to upgrade chocolate spreadhttp://choca-loca.com/en/2017/11/how-to-upgrade-chocolate-spread/
http://choca-loca.com/en/2017/11/how-to-upgrade-chocolate-spread/#respondThu, 02 Nov 2017 17:35:59 +0000http://choca-loca.com/?p=1056So it happened! I caught cold. I thought I’d been taking good care of myself but yeah….no…So I’m stuck at home miserable, sick and desperate. Suddenly Netflix is not so much fun anymore and I’ve been banned from exercising for a while. So what can I do? Well, chocolate obviously…duh I’ve been playing with various […]

]]>So it happened! I caught cold. I thought I’d been taking good care of myself but yeah….no…So I’m stuck at home miserable, sick and desperate. Suddenly Netflix is not so much fun anymore and I’ve been banned from exercising for a while. So what can I do? Well, chocolate obviously…duh

I’ve been playing with various chocolate speard formulas for a while now, but this time I decided to make an upgrade. The below recipe is a true masterpiece of fusion cuisine so brace yourselves!

Chocolate -mascarpone spread – upgraded version

Why upgraded? Well, I don’t fool around these days. And there’s something sexy about cooking with spirits. It makes one….spiritual I guess?

Having said that I’d gone to my local store to purchase some spirit.

Pretty heavy metal thing. Like I said…I don’t fool around these days in the kitchen. Most of the spirit has been used for lovely chocolate liquor (I will share the recipe soon). The remainings however have been used a base for this fab spread. So without further ado :

Ingredients :

Good, solid spoonful of spirit (96% alcohol in case you were planning on ghost hunting). Manipulate the dose until you find your sweet spot. The final product should be tangy*

200 g mascarpone cheese

Caster sugar to taste

200 g dark chocolate

Jar or any other container – wait is that an ingredient?

Preparation :

This is an easy part, I promise you that!

Melt chocolate in water bath

Add caster sugar while stirring

Carefully stir in mascapone

Add spirit

Stir until smooth texture

Store in a fridge for up to two weeks

Don’t eat it for breakfast or if you plan to drive

Upgraded chocolate spread

Serve on toast or non-salty bread sticks. Or just it with a spoon straight of the jar.

So autumn….To my it’s a magical season. I feel so much magic that I’m about to share my biggest secret with you.

]]>http://choca-loca.com/en/2017/10/the-secret-ingredient/feed/0How to become a master chocolatierhttp://choca-loca.com/en/2017/05/how-become-a-chocolatier/
http://choca-loca.com/en/2017/05/how-become-a-chocolatier/#respondMon, 15 May 2017 20:02:23 +0000http://choca-loca.com/?p=769No one is born a chocolatier, just like no one is born a prima ballerina. Having a little bit of practical experience in both of these fields I can safely say that making chocolate is much simpler than Grand Jete or Arabesque. And it ‘s a great news! So how to become a master chocolatier? […]

]]>No one is born a chocolatier, just like no one is born a prima ballerina.
Having a little bit of practical experience in both of these fields I can safely say that making chocolate is much simpler than Grand Jete or Arabesque.

And it ‘s a great news!

So how to become a master chocolatier?

If you’re persistent enough and have reasonable level of self-denial, you can become master chocolatier even today! Or a chocolate maker! Or….

But what, the fudge,is the difference between a chocolatier and a chocolate maker?

So let’s start with the basics and learn some proper nomenclature. It seems quite self-explanatory, however let’s make it clear once and for all.

Chocolatier is a confectioner; someone who manufactures confectionary using couverture (ready chocolate).

Pralines, bon-bons, that Easter bunny you secretly nicked off little Jimmy….
Yeah, you get the idea.

So how do you pursue a career in chocolate business?

The answer is simple and logical – graduate from (at least!) four faculties. I believe art studies, agriculture, perhaps biochemistry, and ingineering, will be highly relevant. I’m not even a joking at this point. It’s science.

When we are more enlightened than Kant, Voltaire and the Chernobyl power plant altogether, we can start looking for a confectionery career opportunities.
Of course when you are as old as me, and are trying to ditch corporate lifestyle ,you will be wanting a shortcut. This is when on- and offline courses come handy.

The choice is wide. just choose your location. if you speak English which I’m assuming you do, you’re good to go. Check out International Cullinary Center if you’re US based. Otherwise you might want to stick to an online course or find something local instead.

chocolatier or chocolate maker?

At Ecole Chocolat for example, if you have as little as $ 650, you can get yourself signed up to an online course. And don’t you be fooled by the form of the studies. The programme is quite extensive. A potential master chocolatier can choose, a year-round course devoted exclusively to making chocolate pralines and figurines . Unfortunately, the target audience is, again,on the other side of the pond, so if like me you’re based in Europe, online real-time exams can be a little bit of a challenge.

chocolate lollies

Chocolate maker on the other hand is a person (or business) who, by applying special magic, turns cocoa beans into a bar of chocolate as we know it.

These days bean-to-bar is huge in chocolate industry I’m sure, if you have even minimal interest in the subject, you can easily spot those humble bars at your nearest organic supermegastore or at your nearest petrol station (this is how this trend balooned!)
So if you want to become a chocolate maker, both the good and the bad news is, you don’t need any special course or diploma. Most of the chocolate makers learn on the job.

]]>http://choca-loca.com/en/2017/05/how-become-a-chocolatier/feed/0Why making chocolate?http://choca-loca.com/en/2017/05/why-making-chocolate/
http://choca-loca.com/en/2017/05/why-making-chocolate/#respondSun, 14 May 2017 11:08:27 +0000http://choca-loca.com/?p=702I’m a typical polymath. My intertests are very wide and include everything and anything ranging from protozoa, classical dance (theory as well as practice ), astrobiology to herbalism and unusual design. Why making chocolate then? So why on Earth have I turned into making chocolate? If anyone asked me (which never happened) why my choice […]

]]>I’m a typical polymath. My intertests are very wide and include everything and anything ranging from protozoa, classical dance (theory as well as practice ), astrobiology to herbalism and unusual design. Why making chocolate then?

So why on Earth have I turned into making chocolate?

If anyone asked me (which never happened) why my choice fell on chocolate, I would have to answer in a slightly prententious tone, that it was actually chocolate, that chose me.

But first thing’s first.

I hate baking. I seem to be unable of producing a single piece of a decent cake of any type.
Once dough is in the oven, the creative part of the process is complete. The results are not known and oftentimes cannot be predicted until 40-60 minutes later, once one gets to open the oven and face their (in my case not so much of a) masterpiece.

Chocolate however is a completely different story. It can be played with almost indefinitely until the desired form is obtained.

It took me a while to arrive to this

It all started three years ago. My friend was having a birthday. I didn’t know what to get him, so I decided to make some rum balls. Since it was my first time ever, I was heavily improvising and – this will come to you as a shocker – I heavily screwed up.

Being in a hurry for the party, I decided to dip my Frankenstein balls (pun intended!) in melted chocolate , and this is how my first ever chocolates were created.

So fasten your seatbelts.

Here’s my recipe for sweet success : 40% rum, 30% dark chocolate, 20% biscuits, 10% almonds. Recommended as a remendy against any kind of depression.
To be honest, I believe mainly the first and the second ingredient do the job, the latter two are optional.

Contrary to what it may seem, chocolate is not a simple medium to work with.

Throughout the years (yeah, been advancing in age) , I have come to the conclusion that, when cooking with chocolate it’s best to begin with prayers for prosperity to all kinds of gods you could possibly think of (the more gods, the higher the chances of succeeding, just sayin’).

My advice is a result of two properties of chocolate, which many aspiring chocolatiers try to battle on a daily basis.

my first home made pralines

Those are :

chocolate doesn’t appreciate water. Just one drop and velvety texture will turn into a lump mass. This is because the main flavor carrier in chocolate is cocoa butter. And fats, as we know, do not dissolve in water.

When working with chocolate, take extra care to ensure that all tools are completely and utterly dry.

chocolate does badly react to high temperatures

Unfortunately is it rather easy to overheat chocolate, so when melting it, make sure you have a candy thermometer on hand

Burned chocolate in its structure resembles mud or slurry and is unsuitable for any kind of pralines or coating (unless it’s used for the filling). Incorrect chocolate tempering (more on the subject coming soon) can surprise you with one more unpleasant side effect. Badly tempered chocolate at room temperature will melt faster than a snowman taking a holiday in Bali.

some of my first Frankensteins

So why do we love chocolate anyway?

Me trying to answer this question is one of the ideas behind starting this blog. This issue is much more complex than the banal statement “because it is sweet”.

I will try to find an exhaustive answer to this question.

Please join me on my journey. And in a meantime, check out my Instagram to see some of my chocolaty results.

]]>http://choca-loca.com/en/2017/05/why-making-chocolate/feed/0Chocolate tea-the ultimate recipehttp://choca-loca.com/en/2017/05/chocolate-tea-the-ultimate-recipe/
http://choca-loca.com/en/2017/05/chocolate-tea-the-ultimate-recipe/#respondSat, 13 May 2017 16:50:10 +0000http://choca-loca.com/?p=677We should be facing warm spring days right now, but it seems something went wrong.As a direct result of the low temperatures, I prefer to sip hot, rich drinks. The first idea anyone could have, would be naturally a cup of green tea or delicious coffee. This spring I decided to bet on tea however […]

]]>We should be facing warm spring days right now, but it seems something went wrong.As a direct result of the low temperatures, I prefer to sip hot, rich drinks. The first idea anyone could have, would be naturally a cup of green tea or delicious coffee. This spring I decided to bet on tea however in a very new version.

Chocolate tea – perfect drink to warm up from the inside out

This drink not only will leave pleasant warmth inside of you but thanks to theobromine contained in cocoa will boost up your energy levels to get you going through another cold day.

When reason sleeps demons dance Goya

Chocolate tea is not only a feast for the senses. Well balanced components ensure a lot of minerals and antioxidants are delivered right to your body.

It seems that the idea of chocolate tea evolved from cascara.

Cascara (or coffee cherry tea) is a tea made from the fruit of the coffee tree (coffee made with tea?! whoah my mind is blown away!). And more specifically with the skins of a coffee cherry (cascara in spanish means “peel”,”husk” or “skin”). The skins after being removed, are sun dried and then are ready to turn into a tea.

The original chocolate tea is made with cocoa shells with spices.

Given that raw cocoa shells are pretty hard to get, I decided to make my own version based on more commonly available cocoa nibs.

Ingredients for a teapot (4 cups):

black tea (I suggest Earl Grey due to the oil of bergamot which will flavour nicely the brew)

2 cups hot water

2-3 tbsp cocoa nibs or dark chocolate

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

cinnamon

cardamom

vanilla

ginger

clove

Optional-sugar and milk (I recommend coconut milk)

Preparation:

Brew tea, when it reaches the desired strenght remove leaves/bag

Melt chocolate/nibs in a saucepan with milk and spices

Add a tablespoon of cocoa and stir until all the ingredients blend nicely together

]]>http://choca-loca.com/en/2017/05/chocolate-tea-the-ultimate-recipe/feed/0Dechox – a few words about detox from chocolatehttp://choca-loca.com/en/2017/03/dechox-or-detox-chocolate/
http://choca-loca.com/en/2017/03/dechox-or-detox-chocolate/#respondSun, 26 Mar 2017 13:06:28 +0000http://choca-loca.com/?p=622During my recent research of the virtual world, I came across quite a specific campaign (pro). Dechox or chocolate detox is a campaign designed by the British Health Foundation. As we can read on the project website, “dechox is a challenge, on which more than 16000 people in Britain in March decided to stop eating […]

]]>During my recent research of the virtual world, I came across quite a specific campaign (pro). Dechox or chocolate detox is a campaign designed by the British Health Foundation. As we can read on the project website, “dechox is a challenge, on which more than 16000 people in Britain in March decided to stop eating chocolate, supporting the research of heart disease”.

But really is dechox or chocolate detox necessary?

According to the initiators of the action chocolate has catastrophic affects the human body (see page with the popular myths about the chocolate). Let me present you just a handful of the popular beliefs.

According to the British Health Foundation the idea that dark chocolate is healthier than milk or white is nothnig more than a myth.

I would like to hereby remind ya’ll that dark chocolate may be the most valuable component of both bulking and slimming diet (sic!)

due to the beneficial ingredients in cocoa, which help keep insulin levels in check, as well as a number of micro-and macronutrients which have a beneficial effect on the human body.

Another random myth that is quoted on the website refers to the consumption of chocolate by diabetics. The authors of the campaign say that “If you have diabetes then you should be able to consume moderate amounts of chocolate. There is no need replace the usual chocolate products with products for diabetics.” And what is the reason for abandoning that idea? On the very page we read: “products for diabetics are richer in fat and may nevertheless cause an increase in blood sugar levels.”

foto www.pixels.com

Superb! I do understand that biology programme for primary schools may not contain extended course in human physiology , but the British Health Foundation, as I understand , is formed by the doctors (?).

I believe it’s somewhat outdated myth that fat will make you fat, and products rich in it should be eliminated from the diet. If you’re more interested in this matter, please refer to the literature.

To sum up, I am slightly apalled. The idea of raising funds for heart disease research is indeed great. The challenge of giving up sweets for the entire month, especially among the most obese people in Europe, deserves only a praise. But mixing in chocolate seems to me a bit of a misunderstanding.

Polyphenols contained in chocolate not only help to prevent cancer, but also support the work of the entire blood system. Thus, can prevent heart disease.

Dechox-I’m not buying it.

And you, what do you think? It’s worth to give up chocolate? Below links to the campaign